Apple Ipod

from what i've heard, the apple ones aren't 'bad' for approx $50 but are nothing to write home about and dont come close to Ety's or shure etc.

dan - my only concern re: the e5 is the inline gain control, it's bad enough coming out of a headphone-level output from the iPod but to have yet another gain control, well, how do you set it? do you center the iPod out and just use the one on the phones? center the one on the phones, and set gain on the iPod?

i want really good sound for travel (airplane) and for skiing (although i do worry a bit w/ in-ear that i'll block out too much), i love my iPod, and wouldn't mind bringing a dock for the line-out, and possibly picking up an X-can or grado's headphone amp (for listening @ my destination i use a pair of grado sr125s - the in-ears would only be for the above uses and maybe workign out / running / biking).

I have a cable that gives me a line-out feed from the connector on the bottom of the ipod which is hooked up to the Airhead...there is lots of gain so I usually turn the amp about half way and then adjust the gain on the E5's to suit. I also bought a little wireless remote that sits on top of the ipod when it is connected to my main system. It allows me to skip through the tracks and pause.

I recently bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's to wear during airplane travel. They work great. They block out the airplane noise and sound pretty
darn good. You can get them for $80 - $100. I was hesitant about earplugs.
I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 580's for home use, but they let in too much
noise and were no good for air travel. I didn't want to break the bank on a pair of earphones or headphones just for air travel. I recommend the HD 280 Pro's for air travel. They are a great bang for the buck. I recently sat next to a guy who had a set of those $300 Bose "noise cancelling" headphones. We
switched headphones back and forth. My Sennheisers blocked out just as much noise as his "noise cancelling" Bose and sounded a lot better. He looked a little green when he heard mine -- and when I told him how much I paid for mine, he looked absolutely sick. Not to gloat, just to let you know how well the Sennheiser's block out noise and what a great value. Okay, maybe I am gloating over the Bose guy a little, but that's not the point.